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We have recently demonstrated that specific neuroanatomical patterns of Fos‐like immunoreactivity are predictive of atypical antipsychotic activity. However, the fact that neuroleptics must be administered chronically in order to generate both extrapyramidal side effects and an optimal therapeutic response calls into question the relevance of acute changes in Fos‐like immunoreactivity for these slowly developing events. Fos‐like immunoreactivity cannot be used to identify neurons activated by chronic neuroleptic administration because the increase in Fos‐like immunoreactivity produced by an acute antipsychotic injection is dramatically reduced following repeated neuroleptic administration. In contrast, expression of the immediate‐early gene product ΔFosB is persistently elevated in the striatum by chronic haloperidol administration. This suggests that ΔFosB‐like immunoreactivity may be used to identify neurons …